Pages

Friday, 1 June 2018

Ramadan - Start to End

Ramadan is the ninth
month in the Islamic calendar, which consists of 12 months and lasts for about
354 days. The word “Ramadan” is derived from an Arabic word for intense heat,
scorched ground and shortness of food and drink. The month of Ramadan
traditionally begins with a new moon sighting, marking the start of the ninth
month in the Islamic calendar. The beginning and end of Ramadan is determined
by the lunar Islamic calendar.

Beginning:

Hilal (Arabic for crescent) is typically a
day after the astronomically new moon. Thereby the new moon marks the beginning
of the new month people can safely estimate the start of Ramadan.The consistent variations of a day have existed
since the time of Muhammad.

The Night
of Power:

The Arabic Laylat-al-Qadr, is
translated to English as “The night of Power”. It is considered as the holiest
night of the year. This is the night in which Muslims believe that the first
revelation of the Quran was sent over to Prophet Mohammad stating that this
night was better than one thousand months of proper worship. Generally, people
believe that this usually occurs on the odd nights of the last ten days of
Ramadan i.e 21st , 23rd, 25th, 27th
or 29th.

End:

The holiday ofEid
al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan and the beginnings of the tenth month of
Islamic calendar named Shawwal. This is the first day of the followingmonth is declared
after another crescent new moon has been sighted or the completion of 30 days
of fasting if no visual sighting is possible due to weather conditions. This
first day of Shawwal is called Eid al-Fitr. Eid al-Fitr may also be a reference towards the festive
nature of having endured the month of fasting successfully and returning to the
more natural disposition (fitra) of being able to eat, drink and resume
intimacy with spouses during the day.